The Perfect Drug
by Sultan Peppershaker
Summary: Addiction can make one do the most foolhardy of things... as long as they see a potential to make themselves happier.


Lloyd sat down in his seat and powered on the time machine. "I know you don't like it now, kids, but trust me, this is better for the long-term. Staying here just wasn't ever an option. Both of you kids know that."

Phil rolled his eyes from his seat in the back. He had spent too long trying to convince his parents that staying in the 21st century was the right choice for all of them. Lloyd had just been too hard-headed to listen. Now, totally exhausted with arguing the point, he just muttered out, "We can't go. You can't do this..."

Pim sighed and looked over at her brother. She wasn't exactly crazy about leaving the 21st century either; she saw plenty of arguments to staying in the past. "I don't know, Dad, I kind of think Phil's right... I kind of like the quiet charm this century has..."

Lloyd sighed as he hit a few controls. "We all knew when we crashed here that we couldn't stay long. You kids didn't even want to come on this trip, now you're begging to stay?!"

"Yeah, well when you're stuck in a place for over a year, you kind of grow attached to it," Pim said. "Even me."

"Yeah, not to mention the people here..." Phil sighed and leaned back in his chair and shut his eyes, realizing his dad just would not listen to reason.

_**I got my head, but my head is unraveling  
Can't keep control, can't keep track of where it's traveling  
I got my heart, but my heart's no good  
And you're the only one that's understood**_

Phil sat in the backseat of Tia's Kia, looking from her to Keely, then to Seth in confusion. "I don't get it. Why not just go to a regular theater? Isn't the sound and picture way better?"

Tia rolled her eyes. "Phil, it's not about the _quality_ of the movie. Drive-ins are all about character. They're totally retro! I mean, when do you ever get to pretend you're living in the '50s?"

Phil bit his tongue before he opened his mouth, and instead just looked knowingly at Keely, who was smirking back at him. "Tia's right, though, Phil," she chipped in. "People go to drive-ins for the nostalgia. It's just a really unique experience. Plus," she added in an undertone, "who knows what might go on in the backseat of a car..."

Tia, having heard Keely's comment, turned around at them, wide-eyed. "Oh – no, you don't! Not in _my_ car!"

Keely sat up straight and looked at Tia like a deer caught in headlights. "Don't worry, Tia," Phil said with an air of sarcasm, after seeing Keely wasn't going to say anything. "Hate to make you uncomfortable, after all."

Tia turned around, not catching Phil and Keely grinning deviously at each other. She paid for their tickets, then drove in and took a spot in the middle of the lot.

"I'm thirsty," Keely announced from the backseat. "Wanna go get me something? You fly, I'll buy."

Tia rolled her eyes. "Fine. Tell me what you want."

Keely leaned forward and gave Tia a $20 bill and a rather detailed list of candies and other snacks. "I thought you said you were thirsty!" Tia said, trying to remember everything.

"I am. Oh, see if they have any lemonade!" Keely added as an afterthought.

Tia leaned forward and rested her head on the steering wheel as Phil took out some money and asked for some popcorn and a soda. "Thank you, Phil, for keeping it simple," Tia said, throwing Keely an annoyed look. Keely just smirked and shrugged.

Tia got out of the car, and Seth scrambled out too, offering to help her carry everything back.

Tia recited the order as she put the money down on the counter. Seth then ordered himself a soda, causing the girl behind the counter to give Tia an incredulous look, then glance over at the lot to try and see if there was anyone else in the car they came from.

"You know if you really don't want them doing anything back there, maybe you could ask them to switch places with us," Seth awkwardly suggested. Tia very slowly looked over at him and shook her head. He sighed and shrugged as the two of them took everything back to the car.

"Oh, for — Come on!" Tia shouted as she saw Keely and Phil quickly pulling away from each other as she and Seth approached. Keely rolled down the window and looked at the two of them, then at the bag of food in Tia's left hand and the lemonade in her right. "I got you your order and this is how you repay me?"

Keely shrugged innocently. "Come on, it could've been worse! Gimme." She stuck out an expectant hand, waiting for her order.

Tia closed her eyes and bit her lip. "Alright. I know I'm going to regret this, but you two are sitting up front." Seth smiled to himself as Keely slowly got out of the car, giving Tia a confused look as she took her candy and lemonade. "You two clearly can't be trusted."

Phil raised an eyebrow as Seth handed him his drink. "Right, _we're_ the ones that can't be trusted..." he said as he climbed into the passenger's seat.

Seth and Tia took their seats in the back of the car as Keely leaned over to rest her head on Phil's shoulder. "See, now _that's_ wholesome," Tia said with a grin.

"You're no fun, Tia," Keely said as the projector started up.

Tia caught Seth yawning and stretching out of the corner of her eye. "You're gonna lose that arm." He quickly let his arms fall back into his lap.

_**I come along, but I don't know where you're taking me  
I shouldn't go, but you're wrenching, dragging, shaking me  
Turn off the sun, pull the stars from the sky  
The more I give to you, the more I die**_

"Come on, Phil," Barbara said, snapping him out of his reverie, "your father's right. Who knows what kind of things could've happened to the future if we stayed here..."

"Couldn't we be changing things by going back, though? I mean, what if we're supposed to stay?" Phil asked, sitting back up.

"Yeah, what if we go back and find out we've never been born?" Pim asked from her seat. "Couldn't we be changing the future right now?"

"Exactly," Lloyd said. "The longer we stay here, the more likely we're changing something! That's exactly why we have to go back."

"But it's my destiny to rule the world!" Pim complained, pounding her fists on her legs. "You might not be destroying _the_ future, but you're destroying _mine_! Your own daughter's future! Can you live with that, Daddykins?"

"Oh, come on, Pim, you didn't even like it here," Lloyd said, looking at her in the rearview mirror.

"People change, though!" She sighed in exasperation as Lloyd pressed a few buttons on the control panel. Phil shook his head and let his mind wander again.

_**And I want you  
And I want you  
And I want you  
And I want you!**_

"No."

Even though she had known this day was coming since she learned he was from the future, it struck her like a brick.

"No."

She couldn't think of anything else to say. Maybe her continual denial would somehow get him to stay.

"No..."

It wasn't working. He still had that saddened expression on his face, the pained look in his eyes.

He really was leaving, all right.

She racked her brain for something to say, _any_thing to say. "You – you can't be. This can't... be happening."

"I'm... _so_ sorry, Keely. I really am... but my dad says there's nothing we can do... we have to..."

Keely paced back and forth, putting her hands to her head. This couldn't be happening to her. This couldn't be happening to _them_. If a love as strong as theirs couldn't make it... was anything sacred anymore?

"Um... w-... wha-... when?" She slowly sat down on her bed, resting her elbows on her knees and leaning forward.

"Monday night. Dad seems to think that'll be the ideal day for us to get back home."

Keely tuned him out after "Monday." She pinched the bridge of her nose between her thumb and index finger. "Monday, that means... that gives us... just three more days."

"Yeah," Phil slowly said, sitting down next to her. "I'm really sorry."

"Three... three days, Phil that's not enough time! That's not _nearly_ enough time!" She buried her face in her hands, trying to hide her tears. "It isn't fair..."

"I know, Keels... I wish I could change it... I wish there was some way I could stay here."

"It's not fair," Keely said as she sobbed. "It's not FAIR!" She suddenly sat straight up and emphasized the last word by hitting Phil on the shoulder. "You can't _DO_ this to me!"

Phil recoiled from the punch, not so much from the pain, but from the sudden emotional outburst Keely was showing. "Keely, it's not _my_ choice! Trust me—"

"No! You don't get to come into this century and sweep me off my feet and then _leave_ me! You can't toy with me like that!" Keely was freely sobbing by this point. She clenched her hands into fists and hit them against Phil's chest, but since she was crying, she wasn't able to put much force into her strikes. Phil put his hands on her shoulders and tried to talk to her in a soothing voice.

"It's not fair..." she sobbed, throwing her arms around him for support. "Why are you doing this to me?..."

"Keel... I'm sorry... but surely you had to know this day would come eventually... "

"That doesn't make it any easier!" she cried. "Phil, can't you see I'm addicted to you?"

_**You are the perfect drug, the perfect drug, the perfect drug  
You are the perfect drug, the perfect drug, the perfect drug**_

"Look, Keely, all this means is that we just have to make the most of the time we have left..."

"How am I supposed to do that, Phil?" Keely pleaded for an answer. "All I can think about is you leaving!"

Phil sighed. He knew she wouldn't react well to this, but this was even worse than he had expected. He wondered if it would've been better just to avoid telling her.

He quickly dismissed that thought. She had to know he was going. There was no way of keeping that from her. How would he live with himself?

Was she right, though? He'd known from the start that he was going back to the future, even before he met her. Maybe he should have never let his guard down. Was it really better to have loved and lost? Or would he have been better off never falling in love with her in the first place? Would both of them have been better off?

She certainly wouldn't be crying now. He couldn't stand it when she cried.

"I don't know if I can do this without you, Phil," she said, after a long silence (aside from her intermittent sobbing).

"Keely, you're the strongest girl I know. Not many people have the courage to keep a secret like you have... you're incredible. And I know you'll get along fine. Besides, you'll still have Via and Tia if it gets too hard for you to go it alone, sometimes...."

"No... I... without you..." Keely sighed, searching for the right words. "Without you, everything falls apart..."

Phil bit his lip and hugged her tightly. He didn't know what else to say. He couldn't really say anything at this point.

And even if he could...

It wouldn't matter.

_**You make me hard when I'm all soft inside  
I see the truth when I'm all stupid-eyed  
The arrow goes straight through my heart  
Without you, everything just falls apart**_

"Oh... I'm sorry to hear that..."

A tearful Keely had just explained the situation to Via. It was 12:30 in the morning, and Mrs. Blackburn was very reluctant to let Keely in at such a late hour, but Keely's tearful expression struck a chord in the woman. The look of anguish written all over her face made it impossible for her to turn the poor girl away.

"I don't know what to do!" Keely sobbed, throwing her arms around Via. "I'll never see him again! I'll never talk to him again!"

Via furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. "You mean you won't even be able to call him? Write him? Anything?"

"It's not that simple," Keely dismissed Via's suggestion with a wave of her hand. "He's the only guy I've ever _truly_ loved and now he's getting ripped out of my life!"

Via sighed and rubbed her forehead. "Look, Keely, don't you think you're – romanticizing this a little? I mean, I know Phil was great, but sometimes I can't help but think that you're just... putting him on this pedestal or something. I mean, is he _really_ that different from all the others?"

"You don't even know," Keely said, slowly sitting down on Via's bed.

Via gingerly sat down beside her. "Look, I know how hard it is right now—"

"How could you know? When have you had to move away like this?" Keely burst out. Via gave her a reproachful look, and Keely nodded, then fell silent, looking at her hands picking at each other nervously in her lap.

"...I know it must be hard for you, but you can work through this. Believe it or not, there are other great guys out there aside from Phil, and each and every one of them would be lucky to have a girl like you."

Keely's lip trembled. She felt like she'd already said everything she could that day, but nobody would listen to her. She laid on her side, resting her head on Via's lap.

"It would be different if he didn't love me anymore," Keely finally blurted out, "but that's not even it... he- he doesn't have a _choice_... neither of us do..."

"I'm really sorry, Keely... I really am..."

"I guess it doesn't change anything, though... he's still leaving..."

"What doesn't change anything? The fact that I'm sorry or the fact that you don't have a choice?"

"The second one," Keely sighed. "Or maybe both. I don't know. I can't even think clearly anymore. I just don't think I can say goodbye to him."

Via sighed. She loved Keely, but the girl was really starting to get on her nerves with her moping. "I'm sorry, Keely, but... what choice do you have?"

Keely would think about that long and hard over the next couple of days.

_**My blood wants to say hello to you  
My fears want to get inside of you  
My soul is so afraid to realize  
How very little good is left of me**_

Keely sat alone in her room the next day, sobbing to herself. She had the radio on with the volume up high, so that the sound of her crying would be drowned out. She ignored her family's requests to turn it down, and their constant pounding on the door.

It was about 11 in the morning. Keely had barely even been out of bed. She didn't feel like she had enough energy inside her to sit up and get out of bed and face the bright world out there, so full of broken dreams and despair.

"Come _on_, Keely," a voice on the other side of the door begged, "Shouldn't you, at the very least, be enjoying your last days with him, instead of languishing by yourself in bed?"

"Go away!" Keely shouted. She clung to the hope that her denial would somehow keep Phil in her life. She heard receding footsteps after a sorrowful sigh. No distractions now.

Though that wasn't entirely true. The radio still kept her company.

She sobbed even harder as one of her favorite songs came on; "Today" by the Smashing Pumpkins. Normally, this song would instantly lift her spirits; she found something particularly soothing about the soft guitar introduction.

But today, it only sounded like Billy Corgan was mocking her by singing, "_Today is the greatest day I've ever known_..."

She buried her face in her hands. "You're right, Billy. She's right. You're both right. I gotta make the most of today."

Two more days. That was including the day she'd already partially wasted by lazing about in bed feeling sorry for herself. Here she was, her best friend and only love about to leave her forever, and she was moping!

She threw open her closet doors and grabbed the first outfit she saw. There was no point in wasting any more time, now. She had to get over there.

Phil had barely opened his door when Keely reached in and yanked him out, eager to live their penultimate day together to the fullest.

_**And I want you  
And I want you  
**__**And I want you  
And I want you!**_

Keely rested her head on Phil's shoulder, looking up at the night sky. The stars were nigh-impossible to see, as the light from the buildings on either side of the canal gently flooded the skies. She glanced over to the restaurant at their side. It looked packed; dozens of tables with husbands and wives, sons and daughters, brothers and sisters...

...boyfriends and girlfriends...

She turned her head back up to the Venetian sky, trying to make out some of the stars. They passed beneath an overhead bridge. She looked over at Phil.

"This was an amazing idea, Phil... I love you so much..." she purred softly as she pressed herself against him.

"Love you too, Keely..." he grinned and kissed the top of her head as she sighed softly. They could make out the soft tones "Santa Lucia" being played by an accordionist somewhere on the walkways. Keely bit her lip as her eyes watered.

"Something wrong?" Phil said, noticing her sniffling.

"No, everything is perfect," she said. "It's just... I really love this song, is all." She laughed softly and tried to wipe away her tears. She tried to ignore the fact that this was the last time she'd be able to do something this unequivocally romantic with Phil, and likely with anyone.

Phil could sense something was wrong by the slight hitch in her voice she would always get when she lied... but he decided not to press the issue, and just to enjoy the moment with her.

Keely blinked back her tears and sat up straight, smiling softly at Phil. "I really do love you... don't ever forget that... nobody would ever do something like this for me... you're just so amazing, Phil. You're so sweet, and I just- I don't know... I don't know what..." Keely sighed and shook her head, unable to find the right words. "Oh, just come here..."

She pulled him in and kissed him, as the soft accordion music serenaded them. Phil was content to let her lips linger on hers, but eventually she softly pulled away.

"I just want you to know that this has been the most amazing night of my life... a perfect way to end the most amazing years of my life, that I've spent with you..."

Phil grinned and held her close, wishing for any possible way that he wouldn't have to give up the feeling he got deep inside when he had her close by.

_****__**You are the perfect drug, the perfect drug, the perfect drug**_  
You are the perfect drug, the perfect drug, the perfect drug...

Keely was desperate. She'd already tried everything that crossed her mind. No change. His parents were resigned to taking him away from her, back to his own home, his own time, both impossibly far away from her own.

It was their last night together, and she had all but resigned herself to the fact that he was being ripped out of her life.

They both sat silently in her room. Keely couldn't think of anything else to say. They had already said everything.

She looked at her shoelaces as she bit her bottom lip. There was one thing she hadn't tried...

She looked up at him. He was looking at the ground, too. Trying to make her voice steady, she blurted out, "Take me with you."

Phil slowly looked up at her inquisitively. She could nearly see his mind trying to calculate what she had just said, to see if it were even a reasonable possibility. After a while, she saw his shoulders slouch again as he looked back to the ground. "It would never work, Keels..."

"What do you mean? Phil, I love you! I'm madly... crazy in love with you... we have to find a way to make this work... why not?"

Phil sighed as he stood up, slowly and deliberately pacing back and forth. "Keel... even if I could convince my parents to go along with it... which they never would... I don't think it occurs to you how much you would be leaving behind here... this is your home, Keely..."

"But... I- I love you... I need you, Phil... I need you in my life..."

"Keely, baby... it's not like just moving to another state... you would _never_ see any of these people again... You'd leave them all behind: your friends, your family, your home... I know the magnitude of it doesn't occur to you right now, but you'd really miss it if you went with us. Not only that, but the future's a really different place from here. It would be really, _really_ hard to adjust to a change like that."

Keely sighed and lay back on the bed. She hadn't really expected him to bring her along. In the back of her mind, she knew it was pointless to ask.

But she had to, regardless.

"I just... you're sure there's no other way...." She couldn't even pretend that was a question. But she couldn't stop clinging to a last desperate hope of keeping the one boy she ever loved in her life.

Phil couldn't bring himself to say it, so he just lay down next to her and hugged her as she slowly broke into tears.

"I- I guess I just have to be happy that you'll be going back home, with all the people who love you, right?"

Phil sighed. Not all of them. Just the rest of them. The rest of them, who didn't even matter, compared to the one girl who truly loved him.

"I guess," he said with just as much sadness in his voice.

_**Take me... with you...  
Take me... with you...**_

Keely sat on a low-hanging branch in a tree in her backyard, calmly watching the RV in the Diffy driveway roar to life. She had never seen the time machine activate, she realized. _I wonder what it looks like when it leaves... does it disappear? Does it just... go so fast you can't see it?_

A light on the top of the machine turned on and started blinking as the behemoth slowly moved forward. She could barely make out a soothing hum coming from the vehicle.

Then, the RV shook violently from side to side. The headlights lit up. The engine sputtered.

Sparks flew out from beneath the machine. Keely calmly jumped out of the tree and headed to her garage.

_**Take me... with you...  
Take me... with you...**_

"Looks like we're all set," Lloyd said as he turned the key in the ignition, and the time machine roared to life.

"Great," Phil said as he looked up at Keely's bedroom window. The light was off. It didn't surprise him that she wouldn't want to watch him leave. He sighed and folded his hands in his lap.

Lloyd inched the vehicle forward and entered in the destination date, time, and coordinates.

"Say goodbye to the 21st century, kids..."

_(Take me... with you...) __**  
Without you... without you, everything falls apart  
**__(Take me... with you...)__**  
Without you... it's not as much fun to pick up the pieces...  
**__(Take me... with you...)__**  
It's not as much fun to pick up the pieces...  
**__(Take me... with you...)__**  
It's not as much fun to pick up the pieces...**_

Pim jolted up in her seat as the machine shook from side to side. "Is that normal?"

"Uhh..." Lloyd said as he flicked through the touchscreen on the control panel.

"_Lloyd_..." Barbara said, with a certain if-you-messed-up-something-with-the-time-machine-again-you're-sleeping-in-the-garage tone of voice.

"I don't get it, I checked and double-checked! Everything was working perfectly fine yesterday, and I cleaned out the temporal exhaust ports this morning! This doesn't make sense...."

Phil sniffed at the air nervously. "Uh, what's that smell?"

Barbara looked back at Phil, alarmed, and sniffed the air. "That... that smells like—"

"FIRE!" Curtis's voice from the back of the cabin threw the Diffy family into a panic.

"Everybody out of the time machine!" Lloyd said, unbuckling himself and rushing out in a mad panic before the rest of his family. Phil, Pim, and Barbara all filed out calmly after him. Curtis came stumbling out shortly afterwards, coughing and spluttering.

Smoke was billowing up from underneath the time machine. Flames licked dangerously at the belly of the vehicle. "Where's the fire extinguisher?" Barbara asked in a panic.

"I think it's in the.... time machine..." Lloyd bit his knuckle and briefly considered heading back into the time machine, before deciding it wasn't worth the risk: There was no way of knowing how hot that fire was; it could blow at any minute.

Keely came rushing across the empty street, fire extinguisher in hand. She dropped to her knees and quickly sprayed at the fire, dousing the flames, then ran to the other side and put out the fire completely.

"Oh, Keely," Barbara said as she came back around from the other side of the time machine, "thank goodness you were here... that could've been awful..."

"Are you guys okay?" she asked as she set down the fire extinguisher on the grass. "That was really scary..."

"We're fine," Phil said, hugging her. "We're all fine..."

Lloyd had walked over to the time machine and laid down, looking for the cause of the fire. "What's... uh oh..."

"What 'uh oh'?" Pim asked, her eyes wide. "Uh oh" was just about the last thing one would want to hear when talking about a time machine.

"Well..." Lloyd said, sliding under the time machine and assessing the damage. "The wires on the temporal output gauge are frayed, so I guess those started sparking... looks like there's a leak in one of the oil reservoirs; I guess that's what got ignited... oh no..."

"Oh no?" Barbara asked, kneeling down next to him.

Lloyd came out from under the time machine and sighed, shaking his head. "The fire melted some of the transmitters on the flux capacitor..."

Everyone looked at Lloyd in silent confusion, Keely the most perplexed in the group. "What does that mean?" she finally piped up.

"It means... we're gonna be here a looooong time..." Lloyd sighed and stood up, wiping his hands off on his coveralls. "Maybe you're right, kids. Maybe we are supposed to stay here."

Keely stared at Lloyd with her mouth hanging slightly open. Phil grinned and wrapped his arms around her in a tight hug. "We're staying, Keel..." he whispered, fighting back tears of joy. Keely slowly wrapped her arms around him. Barbara and Lloyd walked to the front door, then Barbara reached back and dragged Pim back inside with them.

Keely giggled and kissed Phil. "I'm never gonna let you go, Phil...

_**Without you... without you, everything falls apart...**_

"I love you, Keely..." Phil said as he pulled apart and looked her in the eyes. I don't think there's any question now that we're meant to be together..."

Keely smiled and rested her forehead against Phil's. "I love you too, Phil... so much..."

Phil grinned back at her. "Well, it's late... but I'll come by first thing tomorrow, and we can spend the day together, okay?"

"Sounds amazing..."

Keely sighed as she walked back to her house, setting the fire extinguisher next to an oil-covered drill, a pair of shears, and some steel wool.

She smiled to herself.

Tomorrow was going to be a good day.

_**Without you... it's not as much fun to pick up the pieces...  
It's not as much fun to pick up the pieces...  
It's not as much fun to pick up the pieces...**_

* * *

Lyrics of "The Perfect Drug" as performed by Nine Inch Nails written by and are solely the intellectual property of Trent Reznor. It's a pretty great song, and I would highly encourage you giving it a listen or downloading it! It is one of my absolute favourite songs.


End file.
